It's a Duke's Life
by sysa22
Summary: Sequel to Don't flatter yourself. Alistair, Duke of Denton spent years avoiding compromising situations and unwanted marriages, often with the help of his identical twin brother Robert. Then he met Charlotte Lucas. Is she reluctant to be a spinster or is she reluctant to be a duchess? WARNING I will pull this story on 30/01/20 for publication.
1. Chapter 1 - Cambridge

A/N: Welcome back. Here is the story of Alistair, starting before DFY and continuing on from there.

I hope you enjoy.

'It's a Duke's Life' by Sydney Salier. © Copyright 2020 will be published on Amazon on 2 February 2020.

~~~oo00oo~~~

**Cambridge**

**1800**

Alistair, Marquess of Denton and his twin brother the Lord Robert Flinter arrived in Cambridge for the Michaelmas term in style.

Their grandmother, the Dowager Duchess, had decided to see them settled into university, like she had done for them at Eton. Therefore, they arrived in the Denton's best carriage, while their main luggage followed separately. Each of them had of course a small trunk, in case the other carriage was delayed for any reason.

The Dowager had arranged private lodgings for the boys, as she thought of them. At the age of seventeen years, they of course preferred the term young men. The Earl Matlock, whose, nineteen-year-old, second son Richard currently attended Cambridge, had recommended the boarding house.

When they disembarked from the carriage, they were greeted by a pleasant looking middle-aged woman who was dressed plainly but well. 'Welcome to Huntington House. I am Mrs Huntington.' She smiled at all of the newcomers. 'You must be Her Grace, the Dowager Duchess of Denton.' At the Duchess' nod she continued. 'Please come in. I have the rooms prepared. I will show you to them directly. They are very pleasant rooms; I am certain you will like them.' Without giving anyone a chance to say anything, she bustled into the house and up the stairs, leaving the others to follow.

The Dowager and her grandsons looked at each other with amusement. 'I believe we had better follow your landlady.' The lady suggested with a barely suppressed grin.

When they caught up with Mrs Huntington, she was opening the door to a very pleasant sitting room, which had doors leading off to each side. 'As you requested, this suite has two bedrooms. There is also a dressing room, where your valet can sleep. Or he can share the servants' quarters.'

The Dowager interjected, 'Parker is used to having a room to himself.'

Mrs Huntington looked surprised. 'You must be treating your servants exceptionally well. Let me think. I do have a small room available at the end of the corridor here, but it was intended for a young gentleman…'

'Is that room promised to anyone?' Asked the Dowager.

'No, it is not at the moment. It is just that I have to charge you for it separately. My patrons usually do not wish to go to that expense for their servants…' Mrs Huntington said uncertainly.

'It is settled then; Parker will have that room.' The Dowager was satisfied. Good servants deserved to be treated well. Although the Dowager was rather enlightened in her treatment of her servants, she was not wholly altruistic. Contented servants also gave better service and loyalty to a considerate employer.

In the meantime, Alistair and Robert explored the rooms and settled on who was to get which bedroom.

They had just returned to the sitting room, when another resident of Huntington House came up the stairs. He stopped at the open door. When he saw the brothers, he announced, 'Ah, the Denton Doubles have arrived. Richard Fitzwilliam at your service.' He made an elaborate bow.

Alistair found his attitude engaging and bowed just as elaborately. 'You are entirely correct, Mr Fitzwilliam. I am Alistair Flinter and this is my brother Robert.' Alistair replied. 'But we are neglecting the proper courtesies.' Turning to the Dowager Duchess he bowed again. 'Grandmother, I would like you to meet Richard Fitzwilliam. Mr Fitzwilliam, this is our grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Denton.'

Fitzwilliam bowed to the Dowager. 'Your Grace, please forgive my discourtesy. I am most honoured to make your acquaintance.' He finished with a charming smile.

The Dowager smiled, 'For the sake of your father, you are forgiven. If only you could keep these rapscallions out of trouble, I would be forever in your debt.'

'My father has tasked me with the same assignment, although he thought _they_ might be a good influence on _me_.' Richard replied with twinkling eyes.

'I see you are all birds of a feather. Very well, I will have to rely on the modicum of good sense that was drummed into all of you, to keep you out of too much trouble.' The Dowager sensed that despite his light hearted words, Richard Fitzwilliam was a reliable young man. 'I shall leave you to get acquainted. I will see you before I return to London in a few days.'

~~~oo00oo~~~

After the Dowager had left, Robert addressed Fitzwilliam. 'It is good to see you again, Richard.'

'You two know each other?' asked Alistair in surprise.

'We met at Eton. Since we are both younger sons we were mostly ignored by the, ah…

'Snotty first-born louts you favoured until Lizzy took you down a peg,' Robert told Alistair.

'That sounds like an interesting story,' said Richard, dropping into a chair, 'tell me more. Who is Lizzy and how did she manage to humanise one of the Lords?' Richard asked, using the nickname the younger sons had given the coterie of heirs who were putting on airs and making life miserable for the younger boys.

'Lizzy is our young cousin Elizabeth. When we first met her, which must have been just around the time you left Eton, she was six years old. Alistair mistook her for a servant's daughter, and acted accordingly. She gave him a tongue-lashing that was a joy to behold.' Robert explained with a smirk before his brother could object.

'Bested by a six-year-old?' I would have loved to have been a witness.' laughed Richard. 'I had heard that you suddenly became human and wondered what had happened.'

'Now, would you like me to show you around today or would you like to wait until tomorrow?' Richard asked, becoming all brisk mentor.

'Having been stuck in a carriage all day, I would like a chance to stretch my legs. But only after I get cleaned up,' responded Alistair.

'Give us an hour to become fit for human company. Then we can go out and give Parker a chance to get everything organised. That way we can avoid his complaints about us getting underfoot,' suggested Robert.

'An hour it is,' agreed Richard, who left the room with a wave.

'Did you have to tell him about Lizzy?' complained Alistair.

'Considering how rude you were to him at Eton, yes, I did.'

'I can only hope that Richard knows how to keep his mouth shut. Unlike some brother, who shall remain nameless.'

~~~oo00oo~~~

As agreed, Richard returned an hour later. 'Are you ready to go exploring?' he asked. Since the brothers were indeed ready, they set off for a walk around town.

In between pointing out the various sights, Richard also doled out snippets of information and advice.

'Mrs Huntington sets a fine table, but if you want to eat out, I suggest you try the Cock and Magpie. The food is good, the wine is not watered unless you want it to be, and the patrons are generally well behaved.'

He showed them the various colleges where they could take lessons. 'You will hear some of the other students tell you that there is no need to study because as long as your school fees are paid, you will receive your degree. I suggest you do not listen to them. While it is true up to a point, they are also part of the fast crowd. That group consists mostly of the first sons. The "Lords" from Eton. All they are interested in is drinking, gambling and whoring.'

Richard shook his head thinking about the titled louts he had encountered. 'If you hang around with them, all you end up with is a sore head, empty pockets and the French disease. None of which are pleasant.'

The brothers thought of their father's example and were inclined to agree with Richard.

While pointing out various other landmarks, Richard informed them that 'about half the students here are for the church. You had better watch out for the tuft-hunters. According to my brother they can be quite a nuisance. We have only one advowson, but the vicar is getting old, so every other younger son wants to be friends in the hope to receive the living.'

'Should we worry about you trying to get our favour for our advowsons?' Alistair asked with a grin.

'You are safe from me. I am for the army as soon as I reach my majority.' Richard laughed. 'I prefer the excitement of serving my country to serving god. I am also not enough of a hypocrite to preach sermons that I do not necessarily believe in.'

'Are you an atheist?' Alistair asked concerned.

'No, I simply disagree with some of the interpretations the less educated students try to foist off onto their parishioners. Personally, I think they are simply trying to present their own opinions as the word of god. And some of those opinions…' He shrugged his shoulders.

'Do you like chess?' Richard wanted to know. When both brothers agreed, he told them, 'in that case I will take you to our chess club. You will find good company there.'

They strolled on taking in the sights.

'You just missed the excitement,' Richard told the brothers. 'Cambridge is still abuzz with the news that it is getting a new college. Sir George Downing left his fortune to establish a college and King George just granted the Royal Charter for the Downing College.'

'Why do they need another college? From what you said, students mostly do not learn anything in the colleges they already have.' Robert asked.

'It is getting a little better. In Cambridge, you can now get an honours degree for which you actually have to pass a rather stringent examination. I suppose one of these days students will come here mostly to study.' Richard grinned. 'In the meantime, why not enjoy both learning and socialising.'

Richard stopped in front of a building, 'here we are. This is where our chess club meets.' He led them inside.

'This is a pub.' Robert noted.

'Very observant of you. Here you can combine playing chess and having a drink. The drinks are a bit dearer but they are good. The landlord prefers you leaving moderately sober. It saves on furniture. Which is why he welcomes chess players.'

'Good. I hate pointless fights.'

'Good evening Mr Fitzwilliam. I see you have brought some new friends. Will they be joining you upstairs?' The landlord greeted the trio.

'Yes, Mr Porthouse, I found another couple of chess players. Mr Flinter and Mr Flinter.'

'Welcome gentlemen. I hope you enjoy our hospitality.' He bustled off.

'Shall we?' Richard indicated the stairs. 'Battle awaits.'

~~~oo00oo~~~


	2. Chapter 14 - Wedding

A/N: The chapter you have been waiting for. Alistair meets Charlotte. 😊

Plus a bit more fun and games with the other characters.

Some of you were confused by the previous chapter. When I wrote this story, I assumed everyone would have read 'Don't flatter yourself' which is where those 'missing' chapters are.

Chapter 23 (two months earlier) was where Lady Catherine goes off the deep end when she finds out that Darcy is planning to marry Elizabeth. She is extremely insulting and makes a fool of herself. For which she is now apologising.

~~~oo00oo~~~

**Wedding**

Since Alistair was ready early, he decided to collect a book to while away the time before dinner. When he approached, the door to the library was partially open.

As he pushed the door open completely and stepped inside, he was confronted by an unexpected sight.

His cousin Elizabeth and Darcy were in a heated embrace and sharing a passionate kiss, which was just coming to an end.

Elizabeth slowly pulled her lips away from Darcy, only to lean her head against his shoulder as she murmured, 'I am looking forward to tomorrow, when we do not have to stop.'

Darcy, whose eyes were still closed while his breathing slowed down, responded with a contented 'Hmmm', while tightening his arms around her body.

'I am thankful I know that you two are getting married tomorrow. Otherwise I would be most shocked by your behaviour, Cousin.' Alistair said with mock severity.

Darcy's eyes flew open as he pulled himself up to his full height, but he drew Elizabeth even closer in an unconscious protective gesture.

'Oh fiddlesticks, do not try to tell me you have never kissed a girl, cousin.' Elizabeth replied dismissively, as she lifted her head from Darcy's shoulder to look at Alistair challengingly.

'Not like that. I certainly have never kissed a girl like that.' Alistair was almost wistful with his response.

'In that case, why do you not go and find yourself a girl to kiss like that and leave us in peace,' was the completely unexpected response from Darcy, who looked at Alistair with a mischievous grin, which was reminiscent of his cousin Richard.

'It appears you are not just the stuffed shirt and wet blanket I always thought you to be. There is hope for you yet,' laughed Alistair as he stepped back out of the room. 'I shall leave you to your amusements. But do not take too long. Dinner is not far off.'

~~~oo00oo~~~

The last dinner before the weddings was a very pleasant affair. The two families appeared to get on very well.

As the hostess, the Dowager presided over company at the head of table, while his cousin Elizabeth as the owner of the estate sat at the foot of the table. The Earl was at the Dowager's right and Darcy was seated to the right of Elizabeth. The rest of the families was spread out in between.

Looking around Alistair realised that of the five and twenty people seated around the dining table, there were only two who were not family. Charles Bingley, who had arrived this afternoon to stand with Darcy at the wedding and Charlotte Lucas, who had been invited by Elizabeth and was placed at Alistair's left.

'Miss Lucas, will you be standing with my cousin tomorrow?' asked Alistair.

'No, Your Grace, Eliza and Jane have enough sisters to stand with them. Any more attendants would have been too much of a spectacle. But she is my oldest friend and I think she wanted me to not feel left out.' Charlotte smiled serenely.

'I gather you have known her for a long time then?'

'Most of her life. Even though she is much younger than I am, I was drawn to her lively personality. I suppose the education she received from both her parents made her a little more mature than most girls her age at the time.' Charlotte was happy to reminisce.

Alistair laughed. 'I remember when I first met my cousin. She was sitting in a tree and I mistook her for a servant's daughter. I behaved rather badly and she took me to task for it. My brother has never let me forget that, at the very mature age of four and ten, I was bested by a six-year-old girl.'

'I can imagine her doing that since I met her at about the same time, although I was only two and ten.' Charlotte smiled fondly. 'Come to think of it, when I first saw her, she was also sitting in a tree. I was concerned that she might have climbed the tree to hide from something but when I asked her what she was doing in the tree, she told me she was keeping an eye on the baby birds.'

'That does sound like my cousin. Elizabeth has always been curious and protective.' Alistair agreed. 'From what I have seen, she and Darcy are well suited. I hope they will be very happy together.'

They continued to discuss Elizabeth. In the process Alistair learnt much about Miss Lucas since it was impossible for her to narrate the stories without including some of her own history and opinions.

Charlotte in turn found that she quite approved of Eliza's cousin. He might be a Duke, but he was not snobbish now and surprisingly good company.

Before they knew it, dinner was finished and the ladies withdrew to the drawing room to give the gentlemen a brief chance to toast the grooms amongst themselves.

~~~oo00oo~~~

Alistair thought it amusing that Bingley, who normally had the easy manners to be happy in any company, was the one person in the group to be self-conscious. Whereas Darcy was relaxed and smiling.

'What is the matter, Bingley? I have never known you to be ill at ease in company. Darcy yes, but never you.' Alistair asked the young man.

'To be honest, I feel rather like an intruder. I am the only outsider in this group. Yes, I have been invited to dinner parties with Darcy and his peers, but this is the first time I have attended a _family_ dinner with such elevated company.' Bingley looked somewhat embarrassed when he explained this.

'I know my family and from what I know of Richard and his family, they all have one thing in common.' Alistair started to soothe the young man, when he was interrupted.

'Unlike me, they are all of the first circles,' interjected Bingley somewhat morosely.

'Not completely true, but what I was trying to tell you is that they are more concerned with character than position. What they care about is that you are an honourable man. You have been Darcy's friend for, what is it now, a decade? In that time you have never tried to use him to your advantage.'

'He has opened doors for me which I could never have aspired to on my own merits.'

'It was your own merits which made him invite you. And you helped him navigate social situations in which he is woefully inept.' Alistair grinned. 'Cheer up. If you were not his friend, he would not have asked you to stand with him tomorrow.'

Bingley looked a little more cheerful at this pronouncement. 'You may have the right of it at that.'

~~~oo00oo~~~

When they re-joined the ladies, Alistair sought out Miss Lucas to continue their conversation. He found her company to be both exciting and soothing.

Once she had gotten over the fact that Elizabeth's cousin was a Duke, but not snobbish about it, she had relaxed and conversed with him in an unaffected manner.

Alistair thoroughly enjoyed their conversation, to the point where his grandmother and Elizabeth were exchanging meaningful glances, which he did not even notice.

At last, but much too soon for Alistair, the evening came to an end.

Elizabeth declared, 'I must seek my bed. It would not do for a bride to be late for her wedding.'

This announcement broke up the gathering. The party from Longbourne and Miss Lucas said their farewells and left in the Bennet carriage.

Alistair stared after it while it was visible. He had come to Netherfield only for the wedding. He was due to leave the day after. Now he reconsidered his departure date.

There was something about Miss Lucas. While not conventionally pretty, she had a presence he found exceedingly attractive and intriguing. Unlike Lady Francesca, who was stunningly beautiful on the surface but had no depth, Miss Lucas made him feel like he could tell her anything.

He needed time to find out more.

He approached the Dowager. 'Grandmother, would it inconvenience you if I stayed a little longer than planned?' he asked.

'Not at all, my dear boy. I would welcome your company. It has been a long time since we have had a chance to come together as a family. I am certain Francine, Thomas and the girls would also enjoy having you around for as long as you want to stay. In a few weeks, Jane and Richard will settle into Longbourn. At about that time Elizabeth and Darcy will spend a few days here to collect Georgiana, before going to London for some shopping. If only Robert could be here, the family would be complete.'

~~~oo00oo~~~

The ceremony, although joyful for all concerned, was unremarkable. Everyone responded appropriately at the correct time, and in short order, the formality was concluded when Mr and Mrs Darcy, as well as Mr and Mrs Fitzwilliam, signed the register.

The wedding party adjourned to Longbourn for the Wedding Breakfast. The brides and grooms were toasted, delicious food was consumed, and speeches were given and applauded.

As soon as they could do so, Mr and Mrs Darcy said their goodbyes and left for London and Darcy House, where they would spend a few days before setting off on a wedding tour.

Mr and Mrs Fitzwilliam had been offered the use of Denton House, while the Dowager and Alistair stayed at Netherfield.

~~~oo00oo~~~


	3. Chapter 28

I'm glad you seem to have enjoyed my story. I certainly enjoyed your comments.

The next one will be about a friend of Alistair's.

I will get around to Robert when I can work out the details.

I have to remove most of the story on 30/1/20 to publish it on Amazon

'It's a Duke's Life' by Sydney Salier. © Copyright 2020


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